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New Orleans Paper Invites its Critic Back

By Jeff Gordinier June 14, 2012 6:11 pmJune 14, 2012 6:11 pm

10:51 a.m. | Updated
Three days after it was reported that Brett Anderson, the well-regarded restaurant critic for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, was being laid off along with about 200 other employees, the newspaper announced on Friday that it had offered Mr. Anderson “a position writing about restaurants and dining.”

Mr. Anderson, 41, is headed to Harvard University in the fall, thanks to a journalism fellowship that he landed before the layoffs took place.

“We told Brett then that he would have a job with us when the fellowship ended,” Jim Amoss, the editor of The Times-Picayune, said in a report posted on the newspaper’s Web site. “We should have communicated that this week when we announced the changes at our paper. We intend to honor our commitment to Brett. His work has been integral to the recovery of the dining scene in New Orleans.”

The statement seemed to represent a quick and surprising turnaround, but it remained unclear whether editors had changed their minds. Mr. Amoss said on the site, “Since I’m the one who did most of the original communicating, let me confess that I didn’t do a good job of it.” He did not respond to email messages seeking further comment.

In a phone interview on Friday night, Mr. Anderson said that earlier in the week, he was under the impression that he had been laid off. “On Tuesday, when I went to work like everyone else to find out what the future was going to be, everyone was told that they would be given either a job offer or a severance offer. I was given a severance offer.” But later in the week, he said, “I was told that I was a victim of miscommunication.”

Mr. Anderson said he didn’t have to make a decision about the new offer from the Times-Picayune until his Harvard fellowship nears its end in 2013. “I don’t know yet,” he said. “It’s nice to have the offer, but I’m going to kick that can down the road a ways as to whether or not I’ll take it.”

“I can wait,” he added. “That’s what I’ve been told.” If he does return to the Times-Picayune next year, it is his understanding that “I would be able to review restaurants as I always have,” he said.

“I do feel fortunate, but it’s hard to feel good about your good fortune under these circumstances,” Mr. Anderson went on, referring to the mass layoffs at the paper. “I could only be happy if all of my colleagues were being given the same opportunity that I am being given, which is to continue doing what I love.”

* * *

The Times reported on Tuesday that a mass layoff at The Times-Picayune of New Orleans had ensnared Brett Anderson, that paper’s longtime restaurant critic and a nationally known food writer.

But a question lingered: whether the firing meant that the Times-Picayune would join the ranks of newspapers that no longer publish regular restaurant reviews, like The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Restaurants and food are particularly important in New Orleans, in terms of tourism and local identity,

In an e-mail, the paper’s editor, Jim Amoss, has responded: “The answer is that we will have substantial coverage of the New Orleans restaurant and food scene, with two full-time writers devoted exclusively to it. Our coverage will include restaurant reviews.”

The paper has not replied, however, to follow-up questions about why, in that case, the paper dismissed Mr. Anderson, who has won numerous journalism awards and been a high-profile national advocate for New Orleans restaurants since 2000.

Susan Langenhennig, the paper’s fashion critic, has been writing food columns and reviews alongside Mr. Anderson in recent weeks; she did not respond to e-mail messages left on Thursday, asking about her future role. — Julia Moskin